As we all know , Austria won the 2025 edition of the Eurovision Song contest in Basel, with JJ and “Wasted Love”. It has now been announced that we will be travelling to Austria’s capital city, Vienna , for the 2026 edition of our beloved contest. JJ’s victory in Basel was the third victory for Austria at the contest , with previous wins being in 1966, with Udo Jurgens and “Mercie Cherie “and again in 2014 when Conchita Wurst took victory for the nation with “Rise like a Phoenix ” in Copenhagen, Denmark.

With this in mind, we at Eurovision Ireland, decided it would be interesting to create a series , looking back over the years at previous Austrian acts and how they fared in the contest , in the years that Austria have taken part . Today, in Part 9 of our series, we will look at the years 1986,1987.1988

1986 – Timna Brauer “Die Zeit ist einsam”

Timna Brauer represented Austria with the song “Die Zeit ist einsam”, she finished 18th out of 20 acts at the contest in Bergen, Norway , with just12 points. The winner that year was Belgium with the song “J’aime la vie ” sung by Sandra Kim.

1987 -Gary Lux “Nur noch Gefühl”

Gary Lux represented Austria for the third and final time as a main singer at the contest in Brussels, Belgium in 1987, having represented them in 1983 and 1985. This time he sang “Nur noch Gefühl “.Sadly Austria again finished in 20th place , with the winner that year being the one and only Johnny Logan for Ireland, with “Hold me now “

1988-Wilfried ” Lisa Mona Lisa “

Wilfried represented Austria at the 1988 contest in Dublin, Ireland. Sadly fortunes became worse for Austria as this time , they finished last with the dreaded “nul points”.The contest was won that year by a certain Celine Dion who brought Switzerland victory with ” Ne partez pas sans moi”

And that concludes our look back at 1986, 1987 and 1988.

In part 10 of our series on past Austrian participants, we will focus on the years 1989,1990, 1991

You can see Part 1, covering the years 1957,1958 and 1959 HERE , Part 2 covering the years 1960.1961 and 1962 HERE ,Part 3 covering the years 1963, 1964,1965 HERE .Part 4 , covering the years 1966, 1967 and 1968 HERE .Part 5 covering 1971,1972 and 1976,HERE . Part 6 covering the years 1977,1978 and 1979 HERE .Part 7 covering 1980, 1981 and 1982 HERE Part 8 covering 1983, 1984 and 1985 HERE

In the meantime , let us know what you think about Austria at Eurovision by either leaving us a comment in the comments box , or you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and X .

Author: Sarah Rudman

Visual Sources. ESC LIVE music , Eurovision Calling ( YouTube ).